Fingerprint from stolen truck leads to arrest in random 2019 kidnapping of Manitoba teen
16-year-old girl escaped from moving truck after June 2019 kidnapping near Landmark, police say
The fingerprint of a person who turned out to be a key witness led to a breakthrough and an eventual arrest — 3½ years later — in "a completely random kidnapping" in southern Manitoba, RCMP say.
The fingerprint was taken from a stolen truck involved in a June 23, 2019, kidnapping near the community of Landmark, about 20 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, RCMP Insp. Tim Arseneault told reporters on Thursday.
However, it was not the fingerprint of the kidnapper. Police weren't able to determine whose fingerprint it was until February 2022 — eight months after the kidnapping — when a match showed up in the national criminal database, Arseneault said.
That person gave police information that led officers to more evidence, which helped them identify the person now charged in the kidnapping, he said.
"We finally got the break we needed, and then a lot more police work was done to get to the suspect."
On Jan. 10, 2023, a 24-year-old man from Steinbach was arrested and charged with kidnapping, assault with a weapon, possession of stolen property and theft of a stolen vehicle.
The victim in the kidnapping was a 16-year-old girl who had been walking her dog on Ste. Anne's Road around 7:20 on the morning of June 23, 2019. A man in a pickup truck asked if she needed a ride and when she declined, the man forced her into the vehicle at knifepoint.
"This appears to have been a completely random kidnapping," Arsenault said. "Just seems to be wrong place at the wrong time."
As the truck approached a dead end on Road 45 N., about four kilometres east of Landmark, it began to slow. The girl took that opportunity to jump out and run to a nearby home.
The girl had minor injuries from the fall from the truck and suffered from flashbacks and anxiety, her family told CBC News in 2019.
Police searched the area extensively but couldn't find the kidnapper at the time.
Five days later, the truck — which Arseneault said had been stolen from Île-des-Chênes on the day of the kidnapping — was found abandoned in a ditch in Steinbach.
The RCMP inspector lauded the girl's bravery in escaping and getting help.
"It's no doubt been a very difficult time knowing the assailant remained at large, but it's our hope this arrest does bring a small amount of closure," he said.